Camelot fights back over Daily Play figures

Camelot has slammed research that shows sales of the Daily Play game have struggled since its launch last September.

The research, gathered by Mintel, shows only “one in 100 adults” now play the daily game, which the organisation says could be because of a lower “appetite” for six weekly draws and the lack of a publicly televised draw.

A Camelot spokeswoman dismisses the research as flawed and says that it will write to Mintel to point out inaccuracies. She says the survey sample – of 964 people – is too small for an accurate picture. She adds sales for the Daily Play game have been “steadily” climbing since its launch, although she would not report exact figures.

Involvement in the weekly lottery draws has fallen faster than other major forms of gambling in the past five years, according to the research.

Numbers playing the Saturday draw have fallen from 76 per cent in November 1999 to 63 per cent in May 2004, while players for the Wednesday draw have dropped from 45 per cent to 39 per cent.

But the Camelot spokeswoman says that participation in the weekly draw has been stable at around 70 per cent. She also points to recent sales figures. Camelot unveiled a shock return to sales growth for the first time in six years in April (MW April 29), while total sales are up 6.7 per cent for July, year on year.